One of Theranos' medical advisers says he doesn't know if the company's technology works

Elizabeth
Holmes (L) and Alan Murray speak at the Fortune Global Forum at
the Fairmont Hotel on November 2, 2015 in San Francisco,
California.Kimberly White/Getty
Images for Fortune

The main question that most doctors and other observers have
about Theranos' theoretically revolutionary blood tests is: "do
they work?"

But it turns out that at least one of the company's own medical
advisers still has the same question.

Dr.
Waldo Concepcion, the chief of clinical transplantation at
Stanford University Medical Center, told Bloomberg Businessweek
in
a new cover story that the question of how accurate
Theranos' tests are was still open.

"Does it work?" he told Bloomberg. "And if it does not work, can
we tweak it until it does work?"

Concepcion's exact relationship with Theranos is not clear,
though the story asserts he has "looked at the company closely."
Bloomberg Businessweek says Concepcion had "just signed on
as a medical consultant" for Theranos, whereas the company itself
— in a
release last month — called him "a senior Theranos medical
staff member working with our lab."

Concepcion did tell Bloomberg reporters Sheelah Kolhatkar
and Caroline Chen that he was "encouraged" by the company's data
that he's seen and thinks that what they are trying to do is at
least technologically possible.

According to the Businessweek cover story, Concepcion is also
working on setting up a study that will compare Theranos'
technology to traditional technology. But his perspective is not
that such a study will either vindicate the company or show that
it's a sham. Even if the technology isn't perfect, he thinks that
this research might show a way to fix whatever isn't working.